Britain Searches for 'Russian Submarine' Amid Defense Budget Talks

British and French forces are looking for what the UK media has termed a "Russian submarine" as the country's navy calls for budget increases.

Britain's navy and air force have spent at least ten days searching for what the country's media have called a "Russian submarine", the BBC reported.

The country's defense ministry did not confirm that it was looking for a foreign submarine in its statement. This is the third time the UK has conducted search operations, according to the Telegraph, with the previous instance tied to demands for higher defense spending.

"We can confirm that allied maritime patrol aircraft based at RAF Lossiemouth for a limited period are conducting activity with the Royal Navy. We do not discuss the detail of maritime operation," the spokesman of the UK's defense ministry said.

The UK requested French assistance in searching for what the media have called a submarine, although the French plane conducting the mission failed to confirm or expand upon the earlier finding. Nevertheless, Royal Navy admirals consider the UK's lack of anti-submarine aircraft an issue, and have demanded budget increases to cover a new program; its Nimrod patrol planes were scrapped in 2010.

Media paranoia about "Russian submarines" is prominent in Northern Europe, particularly in Sweden, where the phenomenon goes back decades. The Swedish military recently revealed that most of the violations of its borders were made by the United States, while much-feared Russia shared second place with Germany.